


Reservation for Four

by sweeterthankarma



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Double Date, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeterthankarma/pseuds/sweeterthankarma
Summary: Wafflesfriendswork requested, “AU where Hannah lives and her and Owen and Dani and Jamie have a double date."
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Hannah Grose, Dani Clayton & Owen Sharma, Dani Clayton/Jamie, Hannah Grose/Owen Sharma, Jamie & Hannah Grose, Jamie & Owen Sharma
Comments: 26
Kudos: 34





	Reservation for Four

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wafflesfriendswork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflesfriendswork/gifts).



> Thank you to [wafflesfriendswork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflesfriendswork) for sending me this prompt! This was such a delight to write and I hope you enjoy it!

Dani’s gone on a total of one double date in her life. It went fine, as fine as any date can go when you don’t love the other person in the way that you should and every moment spent pretending feels like a waste of your time, a waste of their time, a waste of the poor other couple’s time who should probably just be enjoying each other’s company instead of listening to your significant other complain about how the menu didn’t have any risotto made without mushrooms, and really, Dani wondered what he expected when they chose a place that had candied frog legs as a legitimate appetizer but not nachos—  
and okay, actually, maybe Dani’s never been on a good double date.

She likes to think she’s never been on a real date until Jamie took her out for dinner at the nicest place within twenty miles of Bly, but she also considered every night the two of them spent together to be something akin to a date, even if it was just watching Flora and Miles sleep or eating blueberries in the kitchen.

Dani says as much when Hannah mentions having not dated in years. It’s a nervous tic, oversharing, and only Jamie’s gentle hand on her lower back and Owen’s understanding, unjudging eyes get her to shut her mouth, relax her clenched jaw, and sip her wine with the rest of the time. 

“In that regard, I suppose we’ve been on plenty of dates then, hmm?” Hannah nudges Owen and Dani watches the way his smile curls up on his face, creeps up and stays there like the most welcome kind of surprise he could ever have hoped for himself. It makes Dani smile right back, mirror his expression, makes her hold on tighter to Jamie’s knee resting under her hand. Just because she’s here, she has her, she has _ this:  _ a love of her own, a family of her own, something brand new but just as comfortable as the worn out leather seat she sits in.

It’s a tasteful place, but not too fancy. The ceiling is as high as the lobby of Bly— which is saying something— and the whole place seems to be made of wood, only the entryway’s walls shrouded with wallpaper. 

Dani had worried about the prestige of this place, the standards. Jamie had showed up at her door in a suit, an honest-to-god tuxedo fit with houndstooth print and gold-clasped cuffs, not to mention high heels that Dani was pretty sure she stole from her. The entire ensemble, so unlike anything she’d have expected from Jamie but also so typical, made Dani not only strongly reconsider what she had been wearing herself— a short-sleeved, knee-length amaranthine dress topped with a plain cardigan— but also made her want to not wear anything at all. Only the wicked grin on Jamie’s face and the vague promise to reap the benefits of the suit later on managed to get Dani to follow her out to the car.

“You knew what you were doing when you put that on,” Dani had scolded her. Jamie just shrugged, reeking of faux-innocence while her left hand tapped rhythms on Dani’s thigh, dress pushed up halfway to the bottom of the seatbelt.

“I don’t know what you’re implying, Poppins.”

As soon as salad comes, Dani forgets they’re even on a date at all. It’s easy to be with them— always easy with Jamie— but simple with Hannah and Owen in a different kind of way. Hannah laughs more here, away from her job and responsibilities, and Dani feels a newfound respect seeping into her heart, both towards herself and to Hannah, when she’s the one to spill a glass of water all over her lap, not Dani. She’d anticipated it for herself all night, made every move meticulous, proactive.

Hannah laughs it off, uncaring, holding tight to Owen’s wrist. Her red painted nails are bright against the olive green of his sweater sleeve, the hairs of his arm peeking out beneath the undershirt. Owen calls her “love,” the first time Dani’s heard it but certainly not the first time he’s said it, and Hannah melts into his side, accepts more bread from the waitress even though she’s barely finished her first plate. It’s a good three minutes before she breaks away from Owen’s gaze, turns to say something to Dani and Jamie, and just as quickly, she’s caught up in him all over again.

“So,” Jamie considers then. Her breath is hot against Dani’s ear and a flutter of her hand pulling Dani’s hair away from her neck clues Dani into what she’s going to say next before she even opens her mouth. 

“Wanna find out where that bathroom is,  _ love?”  _ She’s mirroring Owen, meticulous with her word choice— always has been, always will be, or so Dani only hopes to find out. “Think we might be able to snag a few minutes for you to get a peek of what’s under this suit of mine? At least before the main meal comes?”

Dani gets up so fast she almost knocks over her chair. If Hannah and Owen know what they’re up to, they don’t show it. 

Dani hears Hannah and Owen’s laughter all the way from the stall, pressed up against the wall with Jamie’s knee between her thighs, hands up her skirt. Jamie laughs too, into her mouth, against her neck, between Dani’s hushed breaths and murmured “I love you”’s. Jamie says it back, proves it with her hands, makes Dani forget she’s ever been hungry for anything else.

It’s the first time in Dani’s life that she thinks she might be exactly where she needs to be, exactly where she belongs. Exactly where she should stay. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi and talk to me about fandoms at my Tumblr blog [here](https://sweeterthankarma.tumblr.com/) or at my Twitter account [here!](https://twitter.com/sweeterthnkarma)


End file.
